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North Texas StarSeptember 2013

OUTDOORS ALONG THE BRAZOSROBERT E. LEE

ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER

C.C. SLAUGHTER:CATTLE KING OF TEXAS, PART 3

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September 2013 NORTH TEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER Page 2

S b 2013 NORTHTEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER P 3

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North TexasStar 4OUTDOORS ALONG THE BRAZOSBy Don Price

8CHASING OUR TALESBy Sue Seibert

16ROBERT E. LEEON THE TEXAS FRONTIERBy Jim Dillard

12By Jim Dillard

C.C. SLAUGHTER:CATTLE KING OF TEXAS: PART 3

September 2013 NORTHTEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER Page 4

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TheCuriousFoxOutdoors Along the BrazosBy Don PriceA

late September morning it was, one dayafter the beginning of autumn's equinox,perhaps a time of idyllic promise.

Even flora and fauna seemingly softened, theforecast of halcyon days to come, serene Indiansummer, a time extraordinarily tranquil.

And to this day I've had difficulty explaininghow graphic it was on that late September morn'some 35 years ago...

Strolling down an old pasture road with noschedule to meet, no obligations in town, I hadthe placid day all to myself.

The pickup ruts in this rolling terrainin spotsdeep loamheld wild flowers of striking colors, asign that an unknown artist blessed with talenthad been working his brush, peppering the humpin the middle of the road with impressionism. Thefreshness of it all took one's breath.

Pillared cedars on both sides of this windingpickup truck road stretched their boughs to holdup a ceiling of the deepest blue. It was the kind of

late autumnal morning you dream.I seemed to sense something, I knew not what.

Around a slight bend I walked, a bit more ginger-ly now, the leaves having been dampened andmuffled by dew, to observe something dart fromthe cedars to stop, and in the same instant Istopped in the sandy loam road.

In a way there is a strong feeling we must'vesensed each other simultaneously before weapparently recognized each other's telltale silhou-ettes, the shapes of man and animal.

Call this a sixth sense if you'd like. An outdoor-

sman or an old rancher, someone seasoned, cansense it.

Our worlds stopped. I stood frozen and the ani-mal did too, each daring the other to move. Forseveral moments the furry animal seemed to pen-etrate me with its eyes, as if it knew what myhold card was, just staring at me.

It took a quick glance in another direction, thenback at me again, as if looking away would calmit, to give it assurance, so that I wouldn't be aninterloper when it glanced again but only amirage.

As we stood locked in each other's gazes Iinstinctively began sucking or drawing my breaththrough tightly drawn lips to create a high-pitchedsound an old hunter had once taught me, thesound of a rabbit in pain.

Sometimes the old hunter would lick the back

of his hand, then place his hand to his lips andinhale, a different pitch for coaxing a red or graycloser to the pickup back when we were huntingtogether.

Curious bobcats would slowly crawl in or slinkin now and then but you had to have patiencewith them.

The old hunter, a watchmaker and blue-ribbonartist, had a tiny watch shop at 214 North Oak

Ave. He worked during the day to fix the move-ment of a Benrus or Bulova.

But at night he worked much harder to "fix themovement" of a fox or bobcat. His name was EdFord.

This simple trick of lip calling most alwaysworked for Ed so I thought I would try to see if itwould work for me. Inhaling strongly throughtightly drawn lips, I braced myself to see if thefox responded. In a flash it bristled its neck hack-les to lope toward me, to come a-running downthe loam road.

However, there is another "high-pitch" whichdevelops here, the high-pitch of pure excitement.Foxes are actively nocturnal, not diurnal; so cajol-ery of this kind is a form of art, since foxes don'tseem to be normally active during daylight hours.

But then, because the setting wasn't quite rightto the wise old fox, because a certain 5 1/2 foottree stump [me] had sprung up in the middle ofthe winding pasture road overnight, which hadn'tbeen there the day before, the varmint stopped.

It kept gazing at the trunk of the tree [me],glancing away with button eyes, then back again

with a quick jerk of its head, perhaps hoping thetree stump would just go away.

A wise gray fox it was, and it was suspicious,something wasn't quite right, something hadchanged in the loam road, and the fox paused asif to study the setting.

I concentrated on cajolery, nothing else mat-tered now, come on, come on, come on.

Regaining its confidence, even prancing a bit,the wild creature started its tiptoeing toward me,perhaps an artist it thought it was at stalking me.

He crossed over into the other paralleling truck

rut to angle into the timber; disappointingly, I feltI was losing him, that the cajolery was no longerworking; however, he drew nearer, not straight-forward, but sidewinding through dense oak andcedar. continuedonpage6


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continuedfrompage4Certainly my palms were wet by now; perhaps the

fox was rabid, and so I refrained from actual contact,but it didn't act strange, only curious.

Cautiously the gray fox seemed to pause underevery leaf and bush and shadow, switching his tacticsfrom open boldness in a winding pasture road to sur-reptitiousness in a wood of post oak and cedar.

After a few moments of hide-and-seek he peered at

me from behind the trunk of a large post oak, makingit difficult for me to turn my head without straining,for this varmint had quartered deeply to my left side.

Move I daren't lest he be gone in a furry blur.At virtually kneecap level, hardly 3 feet away from

the 5 1/2 foot tree trunk [me] in the middle of theroad, or whatever the fox thought I was, he paused tohunker down, hesitating to inch closer.

For a brief moment I thought of slowly leaningforward to pat him on the head, but on secondthought this is a wild animal with sharp teeth. Howwould the fox react? I'm not too fond of making a

flying trip to the ER with a lacerated hand.The mouth calling Ed Ford [the old watchmaker]

had taught me actually had the fox cocking its head

slightly, as if it were trying to understand, just asyou've perhaps talked to your own domestic pet, pos-sibly at feeding time.

Along about this time I'd stopped making the pitchsound with my lips. Cajolery doesn't last forever.

This was followed by a lull. Nothing seemed tomove, not even a wren's flutter, a leaf's release, noth-ing but a frozen tableau. Time seemed to stop.Shadows seemed to stay the same. Strangely there

was an absence of buzzing mosquitos as the wild ani-mal hunkered even lower.

In a way it was downright comical, as you thoughtyou knew what must have been going on in that cun-ning fox's mind.

The face of the gray fox could be seen, his expres-sion of doubt set off plainly with those shiny wildbutton eyes, everything about him tense and alert.

A flash of moist tongue, and he licked his nose tocatch the whiff of man.

The tables had turned; someone had played asmarter trick. This fox did a backward somersault,

then, I guess, a sort of flip-flop much quicker than ayoung playful housecat chasing a string. It blew mymind.

The last thing I saw was a fox's tail bobbing to arhythmic gait through The Cross Timbers. And thenit was gone.

I circumambulated the area for several hours, hard-ly believing it happened, and I kept reflecting on thisunusual experience, as it happened not at night but inbroad daylight, this experience with a very curiousanimal.

It's mighty quiet on the loam road now, the end of

an extraordinary September day; dusk is oozingthrough cedar and post oak, the gloaming of tranquil-ity. Dust whorls will settle in your wanderlust, Mr.Fox. Don't ever lose your freedom.

This happened in Palo Pinto County 5 or 6 milessouth of Mineral Wells near Hess Road, one day afterthe start of the autumnal equinox, a good time to beoutdoors.

Travel on, gray fox, travel on.Perhaps it might be a good idea to try this simple

cajolery on a few unwilling card sharps in ourCapitol, those entrenched red foxes and blue foxes.

Is there such a thing as harmony, or is this askingtoo much?


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Chasing Our TalesBy Sue SeibertWEST

Ireceived the following query in April of this year:I am looking for information on Jessie W. West.He was born 1853 in Mississippi. Died 1933. And

is buried in Graford, Palo Pinto Co. Tx. He was marriedto Mollie Lyles. Who were his parents? I am his great-granddaughter, Vickey.

I have done some research, and I want to share theinformation I found with you. I know there are otherWest and Lyles families in Palo Pinto County, and, per-haps, this information will assist them, as well, or theywill have information that will help Vickey.

Jessie W. West was born in Covington County, Miss.,on July 9, 1853, to a Shadrach Nelson West, who diedin 1860, and his wife Lucy Elizabeth Rogers, who livedfrom 1841 to 1888. Lucywas 12 when Jessie wasborn, if Lucy was his mother.However, his mother mayhave been Penelope PennyMoody, and his father mayhave been Osborn West. Ibelieve, looking at what littleinformation I have, that

Osborn and Lucy were hisparents, although it is oddthat he and Mollie may havehad a daughter namedPennie, if there wasnt aPenelope somewhere in hislineage!

Interestingly, I am runningacross more and more infor-mation from the 1800s whichreverses names and initials orchanges spellings of names.

On the marriage certificatefor Jessie and Mollie, Jesseyis given as the correct spell-ing of the name. Since thishas happened to me numer-ous times, and although I cant explain it, I know this isthe same person.

Jessie was living in Limestone County, Texas, at age17, according to the 1870 Federal Census, and he marriedMollie whose full name was Mary Caroline Lyles, onNov. 4, 1874, in either Lee or Limestone County, Texas.By 1900 they were living in the Luna Precinct of

Freestone, Texas, and Jessie was 47. But, by 1910 theyhad moved to Graford in Palo Pinto County where theylived until their deaths.

Interestingly, Mollie Lyles was also born in 1853, butshe was born in March in Cold Spring, Shelby County,Ill.. When she was 7, at the beginning of the Civil War,

her family moved to Dallas, and by the time of her mar-riage to Jessie, they lived in either Lee or LimestoneCounty.

Another interesting fact is that Jessie and Mollie diedin the same year, 1933, he in May and she in August.Perhaps she died of a broken heart.

Their children may have included Cynthia A. (1876-1956), Effie Udora, (1878-1972), William WillieFranklin (1885-1973), John Layfette (1886-1959, Mattie,Edward, James Jim, Benjamin P., Jannie, and Pennie(1896-1981).

Mollies parents were Thomas Burrus Lyles (1830-1908) and Martha S. Hewlett (1825-1889). Thomas wasoriginally from Allen, Kentucky, the son of the Reverend

Thomas H. Lyle. (Notice the lack of an s in Thomasname). The adding or subtracting a letter was common,

also.Thomas, the younger, was born in Loudoun, VA., and

died in Allen, KY, and his grandfather was ThomasHilleary Lyles who came from Calvert, MD., being bornin 1749.

I have discovered that a Thomas Lyle (without the s)

is listed by the Daughters of the American Revolution asa Revolutionary War patriot. It seems this patriot wasmarried to an Eleanor Duckett and a Mary Jones. Sincethey were both in Maryland and born about the sametime, if I were trying to connect them for the DAR, Iwould be looking at Census records and such inMaryland about this time, as the son of Thomas, theeldest, was married to an Eleanor. It seems to me thereare many connections here! Of course, that may notmean that the connections are really related to one anoth-er.

Now, back to Jessie Wests family. He and Mollie hada son name Willie who married Amber Belle Slay in1907. They are listed on the Federal Census in 1920 liv-

ing in Palo Pinto County inPrecinct 6. Their childrenincluded Benjamin Franklinwho died at birth in 1908,James Porter (1909-1924),Bessie Marie (1911-1996), EulaMae (1914-2004), Dona Lee(1915-1987), Abijah AbigeONeal (1920-1998), Lucinda

Elizabeth (1921-1999), WilliamHenry (1923-1988), Clifford J.Hit (1925-1990), RichardKirdland (1927-1935), andVelma Faye (1933-2003).

Amber Belle Slay was thedaughter of James Porter Slayand Lucinda Lou ElizabethHatley. She was born inJunction, Kimble County,Texas. James and Lou wereboth born in 1863 in Lampasas,

Texas. They are buried in theMcAdams Cemetery inGraford.

Now, here is another Westfamily query, and Im going to

use this as an example of how we may feel we are chas-ing our tales around and around and still not coming upwith the answer: I am looking for the West family ofHot Springs, Ark. William West was born in 1817 inTennessee and married a woman named Elizabeth whowas born in 1821 and is said to be a full-blood Indian.They had nine children and lived in the Hot Springs area

from 1850 to 1860s according to the Federal Census.William died in 1864 and Elizabeth remarried GeorgeRobertson in 1865. They moved to Montague County,Texas. They seem to be related to the West family ofPalo Pinto County, Texas. continuedonpage10

West Family 1908


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continuedfrompage8I found a Johnny William West who was born in Tennessee and married a woman

named Elizabeth Shipman, but it appears they both died in Knox County, Texas, whichis northwest of Palo Pinto County. The dates I found were a little off, so I dont thinkthese were the right ones, but they might be.

Then I found a William P. West who was born in Tenn. about 1822, married ElizabethBass, and died in De Kalb County, Tenn. Nope, this couldnt be the one!

I found a third. William W. West was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, about1822, but he married Nancy E. (could this be Elizabeth) Simpson. He died in GraysonCounty, Texas.

Finally, I found William West, born in 1817 in Tenn. who married Elizabeth (no lastname). He died in Arkansas in 1870. She seems to have then married a man namedTilman West, and she died in Childress County, Texas. But her dates dont match,either.

I know this seems to be a totally frustrated effort, but one of these four may have, infact, been the one the query was asking about. Much more information is needed, how-ever, in order to be sure. Dont ever give up on finding that elusive ancestor!

But, back to the original query. I really havent brought the West family all together,although we know they were related to both the Lyles and the Slay families. I wouldlove to discover more about them, so if you have some information for me and Vickey,about any of the families listed, especially those in the Chick Bend area of the Brazos,please email me at [email protected].

Also, if you would like to follow more of my tales and ramblings, you can find meonline at Sue Looks Into the Wood at http://siouxsue.blogspot.com.

Have a great rest of the summer...and stay in out of that heat!! H

Thomas Burrus Lyles

William Franklin West


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(This is Part 3 in a series of articles on the life of

Christopher Columbus Slaughter, oldest son of George

Web Slaughter, who settled in Palo Pinto County with hisfather in 1856 and began his long career to become one

of the most successful and wealthiest cattlemen Texas has

ever known.)

In 1876 C. C. Slaughter began to expand the hori-zons of his cattle enterprise westward. He also pur-chased an additional 100 head of purebred Durham

cattle from Kentucky. One third was moved to openrange grazing lands along the Colorado River in MitchellCounty and combined with 2,000 cattle he held in part-nership with John Scarborough from South Texas. Whenmany of the new purebred cattle on the DillinghamPrairie Ranch in Jack County began to die, Slaughter sus-pected Texas (tick) fever was killing them. When he real-ized the purebred cattle he had moved to the ColoradoRiver country were not affected by the disease, he beganto concentrate his cattle operation in that area whichappeared to be free from the disease.

The following year he and former banking partnerWilliam Hughes purchased interest in 5,000 head of addi-tional South Texas steers and heifers. In league with JohnHullum, they moved this herd to the Colorado River val-ley and wintered them at Renderbrook Springs, 52 milesnorth of present San Angelo. During the spring of 1878Slaughter and William Hughes moved their Hullum cattlefrom Mitchell County 50 miles northwest to RattlesnakeCreek in Borden County. Other cattle were soon acquiredunder three different partnerships bringing to 10,000 thenumber of cattle involving the Slaughter name. In Mayhe added 30 purebred shorthorn bulls to the herd.

Although expanding his cattle business into such a dis-tant and remote part of Texas was risky, Slaughter waswilling to gamble that railroads would eventually beextended into that region and trailing cattle to distant rail-

heads would become a thing of the past. He also recog-nized that breeding cattle to new bloodlines to produce

better quality beef would be the future of the industry.The era of the open range cattle grazing was at hand and

Slaughter was at the forefront ready to capitalize andprofit.

By 1878 Slaughter had established his ranch in WestTexas. In accordance with the code of the open range,Slaughter was able to claim as much land as he wanted inthe vast unoccupied prairies and rangelands of NorthwestTexas. Named the Long S Ranch, it included much ofpresent Howard, Martin, Dawson, Borden and Gainescounties and was second in size to the famous XITRanch. It was roughly 40 miles by 80 miles in sizeextending from Muchaque Peak in Borden County westto the Caprock Escarpment and from 10 miles north ofBig Spring and Midland on the south to northeast ofLamesa on the north, including Cedar Lake in northernGaines County. The first headquarters was located at aset of old rock corrals at the mouth of Bull Creek 13miles southwest of present Snyder in Scurry County.Slaughter later learned that these same pens had beenused by his brothers John and Bill who had moved intoWest Texas the previous year. They vacated the area andmoved their cattle 100 miles further north to BlancoCanyon in Crosby County.

During the spring of 1878, Slaughter, Hughes and theircook drove from Dallas to the ranch in a hack pulled bya team of fine mules. The route took them from Dallasthrough Weatherford to Fort Griffin (ShackelfordCounty) and southwest along an established trail throughJones and Fisher counties into Scurry County nearHermleigh to the ranch headquarters on the ColoradoRiver. While out on a roundup, Indians raided theircamp and stole the cowboys saddle horses andSlaughters mule team. He and partner Hughes had touse a team of oxen to pull their wagon back to FortGriffin. The following year Slaughter and Hughes decid-ed to divide their banking and cattle partnership:

Slaughter traded his interest in the City Bank of Dallasfor Hughess share of the cattle.

As his land leases in Jack and Young counties expired,Slaughter began to consolidate his cattle on his holdings

along the Colorado River and its tributaries. He nowgrazed cattle on 2,400 square miles of West Texas in anarea that became known as Slaughter Country. In1881 he moved the ranch headquarters to GermanSprings located 20 miles north of Big Spring, Texas, nearthe newly constructed Texas and Pacific railroad. An oldsheepherders camp that had been used as the first dwell-ing there was replaced by a long box house which wouldserve as headquarters of the ranch for the next 20 years.

To more fully organize the operation of the vast ranch,Slaughter divided it into four open range divisions: theRattlesnake, Tobacco Creek, Buffalo and Sulphur divi-sions. He leased and purchased some small tracts of landand leased some State land for three cents per acre. Asmuch of his ranch lay within the boundary of the Texasand Pacific Railroad grant, he was able to use alternatesections without costs by leasing the other alternate sec-tions from the railroad. As a result, C. C. Slaughter con-trolled an area of West Texas encompassing 1,500,000acres, an area twice the size of Rhode Island.

Slaughter was not the only cattlemen to be drawn tothe vast open range grazing lands of West Texas.Between 1878 and 1882 other ranches were establishedin the region north of Slaughter including the Spade,XIT, T-Anchor, Mill Iron, Shoe Bar, Frying Pan, QuarterCircle Heart, LS and Diamond F ranches. In addition,by 1883 eastern and British capitalists began to organizeinvestment companies in Scotland and England forAmerican cattle ranches in the Panhandle and SouthernPlains. They included the Matador Land and CattleCompany, Limited, the Franchlyn Land and CattleCompany, St. Louis Cattle Company, Pitchfork Land andCattle Company and the Kentucky Cattle RaisingCompany.

With the influx of large investment in capital, many

cattlemen were tempted to sell out for high profits. Incontinuedonpage14

C.C. Slaughter - Cattle King of TexasBy Jim Dillardpart 3


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continuedfrompage121881 Slaughter was offered a half-million dollars for hisWest Texas cattle interest which he accepted. Three dayslater when he learned the investors did not have the money

they promised, he sent his 10-year-old son, Bob, by horse-back to warn the ranch foreman not to turn over the ranch.Using three horses and without resting, the young Slaughtermade the half million dollar ride of more than 300 milesto the German Springs headquarters in 41 hours and arrivedahead of the Englishmen.

In 1882 Slaughter shipped his first load of 350 head of hisbest 3-year-old longhorn-Durham cross cattle from ColoradoCity on the Texas and Pacific Railway to St. Louis.Slaughter rode with the cattle and sold them for seven centsa pound, the highest price paid for grass-fed cattle to date.The steers averaged 1,090 pounds per head and grossed

$27,000. When Slaughter was again offered money for hisWest Texas ranch during 1882, a reported 1-million dollars,he refused the offer knowing that by raising 5-10,000 calveseach year from his operation, he would realize a consider-able profit from his investments.

Slaughter plowed back much of his profits into improvinghis ranching operations, particularly in purchasing as muchland as he could and fencing it with the newly inventedbarbed wire. The first fence constructed was a drift fencewhich he hoped would keep other cattlemens livestockfrom encroaching on Slaughter grass. It extended from 15miles south of Gail in Borden County northwest to 15 miles

south of Tahoka in Lynn County. Post and wire wereshipped to Colorado City or Big Spring at the cost of 10cents per post, 15 cents per pound for wire, and 10 cents perrod for labor. Fencing averaged $250 per mile and by 1885Slaughter had built 100 miles of fence.

During the early 1880s, semi-annual roundups wererequired on the Slaughter Ranch. During May andSeptember around 80 men who were affiliated with theClear Fork and Colorado Cattlemens Association assistedon the roundups. In 1880 Slaughter and other cattlemenalong the Colorado and Brazos rivers formed the associationfor better protection of our stock interest and to organize

five roundup districts. Slaughter was named to the firstexecutive committee. They met twice a year to determinerules, time, meeting place and to select a superintendent forthe roundup in each district. Each ranch supplied a wagonand five-10 men who could bring up to six horses each.Strict rules were enforced concerning card playing and horseracing which were strictly forbidden.

By retaining most of the 1882 calf crop, Slaughter cattlenumbered 40,000 head by years end. The annual calf crophad now reached 12,000 head. In 1884 he began a newpartnership with T. W. and J. N. Morrison with a trade of3,000 head of cattle for a half interest on their ranch located

west of present Plainview along Running Water Draw in

Lamb, Hale, Swisher and Castro counties. This gaveSlaughter half interest in 6,000 cattle there and access to181,000 acres for grazing.

In May 1884 one of the largest roundups of cattle ever

held in Texas took place on the Slaughter Ranch when15,000 cattle were gathered in a one-half-mile-square pas-ture. Slaughter also entered into an even larger venture thatsame year when he went into partnership with R. D. Hunterand A. G. Evans in a one-million-acre lease on theCheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Indian Territory(Oklahoma.) Slaughter sold them two-thirds interest in8,000 2- and 3-year-old steers. The cattle were trail drivenin three herds from the Tobacco Creek Division northeastacross the Red River at Doans Crossing to the lease locatednorthwest of Fort Reno.

C. C. Slaughter also remained active in the Northwest

Texas Stock Raisers Association and in 1885 was electedpresident of the organization. He had continued to gainrespect from cattlemen throughout the region as a leader andbecame a driving force in the industry. He had also rein-vested in the City National Bank in Dallas during 1881 andserved as its vice-president. His role was primarily restrictedto soliciting the business of stock raisers and Westernmerchants. He was in his element whether it was minglingwith Dallas society or cowboys. Although C. C. Slaughterhad achieved greatness through his cattle business and bank-ing interests, tough times lay ahead.

During the 1880s Slaughter continued to lease lands from

the Texas and Pacific Railroad that had been given 16 sec-tions (640 acres) of land for each mile of rail constructed. In1881 he secured a 5 year lease on 192,000 acres in the fourcorners of Dawson, Howard, Martin and Borden counties.He also used a corresponding number of acres of publicschool land free until 1882. However, legislation waspassed in 1883 allowing cattlemen to lease the state landsunder 10-year contracts at 4 cents per acre. Consequently,Slaughter leased from the state all alternate sections con-tained in his Texas and Pacific lease and additional lands inDawson and Martin counties totaling 340,000 acres.

When Slaughters lease of 192,000 acres of railroad land

expired in 1886, he bought 128,000 acres of land in the cor-ners of Howard, Martin, Dawson and Borden counties fromthe railroad for $220,485.82. Combined with his previoussmaller land purchases, Slaughter now had title to approxi-mately 140,000 acres plus leases and nonlease land in use,totaling more than 600,000 acres.

As more and more cattlemen moved into West Texas,many rangelands became overstocked and the quality ofgrazing lands began to diminish. Slaughter was one of thefirst cattlemen to use windmills and by 1885 had drilledeight wells in Dawson County at a cost of $400-$700 each.With favorable rainfall patterns throughout the regionbetween 1882 and 1885, more and more cattle were added

to the herds. However, on Jan. 16, 1885, a severe blizzardstruck the plains forcing cattle to drift southward from thePanhandle to the Pecos and Devils rivers. Cattle fromSlaughters Long S Ranch pushed through drift fences and

intermingled with hordes of cattle moving with the stormsouthward through the ranch. Hundreds of cattle drownedin rivers or piled up against fences and died.

In February of that year a big roundup was called with adozen ranches participating to retrieve the surviving cattle.Each ranch provided a wagon and 10-15 men withSlaughters foreman Gus OKeefe chosen to coordinate thedrive. The men traveled to the Pecos River country andbegan moving the cattle back northward. At Big Springaround 25,000 cattle were gathered and sorted including10,000 belonging to Slaughter. Slaughter had lost between5,000 and 10,000 head of cattle due to the storm.

The following spring range conditions and market pricesimproved and Slaughter was able to recoup some of hislosses. He restocked much of his range with 10 boxcarloads of bulls acquired in Denver and began fencing hisentire ranch. However, a persistent drought set in on theSouth Plains which continued until 1887. Another blizzardon Jan. 14, 1888, killed 300 of Slaughters cattle whichfroze to death after piling up against barbed wire fences.Once again hundreds of his cattle drifted as far south as thePecos River. On personal inspection of the ranch he foundthat most of his cattle had broken through fences and scat-tered within 100 miles of the ranch. He also found cattle

that had drifted in from as far away as the Canadian River inthe Texas Panhandle.

Mother Nature had truly taught cattlemen on the High andSouth Plains of West Texas, including C. C. Slaughter, thatshe held the upper hand when it came to weather and otherclimatic forces that had molded the region for millennia.The challenge that lay ahead for cattlemen would be how toadapt to those natural forces and modify their operations ifthey were to survive and prosper. Mounting financial lossesand depressed market prices would force many of the WestTexas cattle barons to fold. By October 1887 the marketbottomed out at less than one cent per pound. C. C.

Slaughter held on despite efforts by the major meat packersup north, including Armour, Swift, Hammond and Morris, tocontrol and regulate the price of beef in the marketplace andprevent competition. Slaughter would again step forwardand lead the way to challenge yet another adversary in hisrise to the top of the cattle industry. (to be continued)

(References: C. C. Slaughter: Rancher, Banker, Baptist,

by David J. Murrah; Painted Pole: The Beldings and Their

Ranches in Palo Pinto County Pioneer Days to Computer

Age, by Barbara Belding Gibson; Handbook of Texas

Online and other internet sources.)


A

P

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Placein TimeSEPTEMBER 5, 1854

Alabama-born Reuben Vaughan, often referred to as the rst permanent settler

in Palo Pinto County, moves his family to the Keechi Valley. He was a farmer

and stockman who maintained friendly relations with the Native Americans of

the area. He died in 1900.

SEPTEMBER 25, 1867

Palo Pinto County trail driver Oliver Loving of Goodnight-Loving fame, dies of

gangrene at Ft. Sumner, NM. Loving, half of a pioneering Texas cattle-drive

partnership, was wounded near the Pecos River in a skirmish with hostile

Indians. Before he died his partner, Charles Goodnight, promised he would not

be buried in a strange land but back home in Texas. True to his word, following

a temporary burial at Ft. Sumner, Goodnight had his partner's body exhumed

and delivered it by wagon back to Weatherford, Texas, for permanent burial in

Greenwood Cemetery on March 4, 1868.

SEPTEMBER 26, 1956

The U.S. Army Primary Helicopter School at Fort Wolters in Mineral Wells is

activated.


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by Jim DillardRobert E. Lee

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the life of

Robert E. Lee and his military service in Texas between

March 1856 and February 186l)

PART 1

Following the Mexican War of 1846-1848, UnitedStates forts and posts along the frontier of Texas servedas proving grounds for many soldiers who wouldbecome famous military leaders of our country. Menlike Albert Sidney Johnston, William J. Hardee, George

H. Thomas, Earl Van Dorn, E. Kirby Smith, N. G.Evans, I. N. Palmer, George Stoneman, R. W. Johnson,John B. Hood, Charles W. Fields, William P. Chambliss,Charles W. Phifer, K. Garrard and Robert E. Lee honedtheir military skills at these remote Texas posts that layin an arching line from the Red River to the RioGrande. They were situated just ahead of the advancingtide of white settlers and the vast prairies whereComanche and Kiowa Indians tenaciously held to theirtraditional hunting grounds. The Civil War would frac-ture the allegiances of many these officers with some

joining the Confederacy and others remaining loyal to

the Union.Federal installations built during the 1850s includedWorth, Graham, Gates, Croghan, Martin Scott, Belknap,Cooper, Colorado, Chadbourne, Phantom Hill, Mason,McKavett, Terrett, Clark, Inge, Duncan, McIntosh,Lincoln, Ewell, Davis, Bliss, Hudson, Verde, Quitman,Stockton, Lancaster, Ringgold Barracks, Merrill andBrown. Many of these names remain in our Texas lexi-con as do the names of the men who served at them.

Perhaps none became more famous during that periodof strife in our nations history than Robert E. Lee.Graduating second in his class at the United States

Military Academy at West Point in 1829, he was com-missioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps ofEngineers. He served at Cockspur Island, GA; FortMonroe, V; and as an assistant in the chief engineersoffice in Washington from 1834-1837. He helped layout the line between Ohio and Michigan and supervisedthe engineering work of the St. Louis harbor and otherengineering projects on the upper Mississippi andMissouri rivers. In 1842 Capt. Robert E. Lee wasassigned as post engineer at Fort Hamilton (Brooklyn,NY.)

Following the first conflict between United States and

Mexican forces near the South Texas border at PaloAlto and Resaca de la Palma on May 8 and 9, 1846,Gen. Zachary Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and occu-pied Matamoros and Monterrey. The Mexican War hadbegun and Lee would soon find himself in the thick of

the fight. He was sent to San Antonio where GeneralJohn E. Wool was organizing a second army in Texas toaid Taylor. Lee arrived in San Antonio on Sept. 21,1846, and was assigned the duty of securing tools forroad-and-bridge-building and pontoons to throw acrossthe Rio Grande 30 miles south of Eagle Pass for Woolsadvancing army.

Lee served valiantly in the Mexican War as one ofGen.Winfield Scotts chief aides and fought in the bat-tles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, andChapultepec where he was wounded. He participated in

Scotts march from the sea port of Vera Cruz to MexicoCity where he used his training as an engineer to helpposition troops and artillery. After the close of theMexican War in 1848, he was stationed at Fort Carrollin Baltimore harbor for three years and worked onupdating maps of Florida. In 1852 he was appointed asSuperintendent of the Military Academy at West Pointand would remain there in that capacity until 1855.

When Secretary of War Jefferson Davis urgedCongress to authorize the organization of two regimentsof cavalry to combat the Indian menace in the West,they went above his recommendation and created the

two cavalry regiments plus to two regiments of infantry.The Second Cavalry would patrol the borderlands ofTexas under the leadership of Colonel Albert SidneyJohnston and Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee. Davispersonally selected the cream of the crop of army offi-

cers to also serve in Texas with the Second Cavalry,many of whom would go on to become famous officersduring the Civil War.

Before Johnston was able to take command of thenew Second Cavalry regiment, Lee was put in com-mand of the unit as it assembled at Louisville,Kentucky. A short time later Lee and the troops weremoved to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri to drill andprepare for their move to Texas. But before he couldmove south with the regiment, Lee was assigned court

martial duty at various posts including Fort Riley(Kansas), Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and at WestPoint. The Second Cavalry under Johnston beganmovement southwest through Indian Territory and intoTexas during October 1855. Some of the troops werestopped on the Clear Fork of the Brazos in presentShackelford County where a new post would be estab-lished while Johnston moved the remainder of the unitfurther south to Fort Mason (Mason County.)

Lee did not arrive in Texas until early March 1856 byship at Indianola and then made a muddy road trip bywagon to San Antonio where he registered at the Plaza

Hotel. A few days later he began his trip to Fort Masonwith his wagon train and arrived there on March 25th.His next journey would be to Camp Cooper on theClear Fork of the Brazos where Johnston assigned himto take command. When he departed Fort Mason, henailed a coop with seven hens to the end gate of awagon to provide him eggs during the trip.

The site for Camp Cooper, named for Adj. Gen.Samuel Cooper, had been selected by Johnston duringlate December that year on his journey into Texas withthe Second Cavalry. It was located at the site of theComanche Indian Reservation on the north side of the

Clear Fork of the Brazos River on flat ground behind ahigh sloping bank that provided some protection fromthe fierce winter winds. The temperature was near zerowhen they arrived and the river frozen over. Large treeslined the river providing an abundance of wood andwater, although slightly brackish at that location, wasavailable for men and horses. Maj. William J. Hardeewas put in charge to build the post and command of twocompanies of cavalry and two companies of infantry.An array of tents was erected to house the troops, hospi-tal, guardhouse, bakery, and arsenal. Supplies werecovered with tarpaulins and horses staked on picket

lines.One can only imagine Lt. Col. Robert E. Lees

thoughts when he arrived to take command of CampCooper on April 9, 1856. It was located literally

continuedonpage18

on the Texas frontier

Lee at age 31 in 1838, as aLieutenant of Engineers

in the U. S. Army.


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continuedfrompage16on the western edge of the Texas frontier at that time andfar away from his home in Virginia and the niceties ofcivilization to which he was accustomed. Known as agentleman soldier and the best-read man in the army,Lee would call this my Texas home for the next 19months.

The day following his arrival, Comanche ChiefKatumse came calling to greet Lee and assure him the

Comanche were his friends and willing to accept thewhite mans ways. Although the chief was dirty, greasy,and smelly, he gave Lee a big hug as was his custom.Lee replied, I will meet you as a friend if possible, butas an enemy if necessary. As a common courtesy, Leewent to the Comanche village the next day to visitKatumse and the Comanches. There he saw first hand theprimitive and sualid condition in which the Indians livedand must have questioned in his mind whether the reser-vation experiment in Texas would succeed.

Lees next duty was to inspect the troops he was tocommand and was impressed with what he saw. Each

troop rode different colored horses and represented a dif-ferent state with one troop made up of men from severalstates: Company A of Alabama rode grays; Company Eof Missouri sorrels; Company F of Kentucky bays; andCompany K of Ohio roans. Each man was furnished abrass-mounted Campbell saddle with wooden stirrups,a spring-movable stock, or Perry carbine; a Colt navyrevolver and dragoon saber, carried by saber belt and car-bine sling; a gutta-perca cartridge box; and a cape ortalma, with loose sleeves extending to the knees. Hewore pale blue trousers, a close-fitting blue jackettrimmed with yellow braid, a silken sash, a black hat with

looped eagle on the right side and trailing ostrich plumeson the left. On his shoulders he had brass scales to turnsaber strokes and Indian arrows.

His next important task was to meet with TexasSuperintendent of Indian affairs Robert S. Neighbors andbegin a cooperative relationship to implement the missionof the two Indian reservations in Texas (Clear Fork andBrazos Reservations) that had only recently been estab-lished. He found Neighbors very knowledgeable onIndian affairs on and off the reservations and developed agood working relationship with him. He also gleaned amore thorough understanding of the plight of the Indians

and the conflicts being created as white men moved intotheir historic domain and hunting grounds.

During the period from April to July, 1856, Lee ledseveral expeditions to deter raids by northern Comancheson the Texas frontier. On May 27, 1856, he was orderedby General Persifor Smith, Department of TexasCommander in San Antonio, to take two companies ofthe Second Cavalry at Fort Mason and two from CampCooper totaling 160 troops and rendezvous at FortChadbourne (southwest of Abilene in present CokeCounty) to begin an expedition against hostile PenatekaComanches, Tanimas and Naconie Indians who wereraiding border settlements. Lee also consulted withAgent Neighbors on the matter and solicited the aide of

Indian scouts from the Brazos Reservation for the cam-paign. From Camp Cooper he chose the companies ledby Captains Earl Van Dorn and Theodore OHara for theexpedition.

The two companies from Fort Mason under CaptainsEdmund K. Smith and William R. Bradfute had alreadyarrived at Fort Chadbourne when Lee and his columnarrived on June 27. The following day Lee moved hisforce west toward the Colorado River before Indians

became aware of their presence. However, having trav-eled only 25-30 miles, scouts reported the entire countrysouth of the river had been set on fire, likely by retreatingIndians. Four days later they reached the river andmoved up the south bank for 20 miles but found no signof recent Indian camps. As the troops moved furthernorthwest and then northeast, they found themselves in aharsh drought stricken region.

The column made a wide arching journey through thedesolate region, passing west of present-day Sweetwater,Roby and Rotan where the only water that could befound was briny and stagnant. By drinking the water,

many of the men were stricken with diarrhea and dysen-tery as temperature soared over 100 degrees. On June 28they crossed the Double Mountain Fork of the BrazosRiver and camped near the southern base of the twopeaks in present southwestern Stonewall County. Theriver had only a trickle of water which was also brackishand muddy. To Lee it appeared Indians likely frequentedthis area during other seasons of the year but had movedout during the drought that currently baked the region.

Only one small Indian camp was discovered during theexpedition by a detachment under Captain Van Dorn.Two Comanches were killed and an Indian woman cap-

tured. Also recovered were 12 horses, the Indians sad-dles and their supplies. Meanwhile, Lee had reconnoi-tered with a portion of the troops through the desolateLittle Wichita River breaks but found no Indians. Thecommand then reassembled on a tributary of the ClearFork. Learning from his scouts that Indians had recentlybeen seen at the Big Springs (near present Big Spring,Texas,) Lee began a movement in that direction in hopesof intercepting them. After a number of scouts through-out the Concho and Colorado River drainages, Lee turnedhis troops back toward their posts at Camp Cooper andFort Mason. They scouted various tributaries along the

way for any sign of recent Indian activity but none wasfound. After the forty-day scout and 1100 miles, Leeand his command returned to Camp Cooper with littleto show for their effort.

Back at Camp Cooper Lee and his command contin-ued to suffer the effects of the persistent drought andlack of good water. Many soldiers fell ill to dysentery,scurvy, and other maladies: several died. Indians on thereservations also suffered from the drought which deci-mated their crops, forcing them to kill their livestock tosurvive. Two of the cavalry companies had been trans-ferred to other posts and were replaced by infantry unitsunder Captains J. N. Caldwell and John H. King.Desertion among the troops increased and the guard-

house was constantly filled to capacity with disgruntledsoldiers. It would be late August before heavy rainsonce again fell and refreshed the Clear Fork country.

Before Lee could mount a new expedition to patrolthe frontier for Indians, news from a courier arrivedordering him to sit on a court-martial trial at RinggoldBarracks located in far South Texas along the RioGrande. Major Thomas, a fellow Virginian stationed atFort Mason, would accompany him on the journey.

Anticipating he would be gone two or three months,Lee departed Camp Cooper on Sept. 2, 1856, for the165-mile trip and arrived at Fort Mason six days later.Lee and Thomas left the next morning passing throughFredericksburg and Boerne and arrived in San Antonioin three days. There they would be joined by CaptainJames J. A. Bradford, one of Lees friends from hisWest Point days. Following an arduous journey theyarrived at Ringgold Barracks on Sept. 28, having trav-eled in the saddle for 27 days covering 730 miles.

The trial drug on until Nov. 1 when it was moved toFort Brown near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Traveling by steamboat, Lee and his fellow officersreached the fort on Nov. 3. It was not until November18th that the trial finally adjourned sine die (without aday being fixed for a further meeting) and Lee was ableto begin his return trip to Camp Cooper. He arrivedback in San Antonio on March 6, 1857, but to his disap-pointment received further orders for duty on anothercourt-martial trial in Indianola. Lee traveled by stage tothe coastal town for the trial which adjourned sine dieon March 28, allowing him to return to San Antonio.There he visited with old acquaintances for several daysbefore starting his trip back to Camp Cooper.

Lee departed San Antonio on April 7 and arrived atCamp Cooper without incident on April 18, 1857, hav-ing been away from his command eight months and 16days and traveling almost 2,000 miles. Conditions weremuch the same as when he left on his trip to SouthTexas. His tent had been blown down, dishes brokenand his livestock had disappeared or were stolen byIndians. Even at this season, cold northers continuedto blow and drought conditions would soon return.Soon after his arrival he became involved in the court-martial trial at Camp Cooper of Lt. Robert N. Eagle fora minor infraction of duty. Other officers on the jurywere Colonel Bainbridge; Majors Thomas, Van Dorn,and Paul; Captain King; and several others. Althoughhe dreaded another trail, he welcomed the who that hadarrived to sit on the jury and renewed acquaintanceswith many old friends. (to be continued)

Sources: Robert E. Lee in Texas; by Carl Coke

Rister; Lambshead Before Interwoven: A Texas RangeChronicle 1848-1878, by Frances Mayhugh Holden;

TSHA Online and other internet sites.


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STORIES SNIPPETS

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STORIES & SNIPPETSSunday

October 27, 1940

CONSTRUCTION ON ARMYCAMP WITHIN MONTH

Many Contractors Now inWashington To Bid On Work

Construction will start on the Infantry replace-ment camp for some 16,000 trainees here sometimebetween Nov. 1 and Dec., is the belief of membersof the local delegation that returned from Fort SamHouston Friday after the War Department and theCity of Mineral Wells signed leases on some 7,500acres of land here to be used for that purpose, alladjacent to Camp Wolters.

There is no doubt that plans will start immediatelyfor the start of construction. It is known that contrac-tors are waiting in Washington for the signing of thelease and the making of lands available, and that

they are ready to bid on the work and get started.It is believed that the War Department will rush thecontract with engineers and with construction com-panies and that work will get underway at the veryearliest date possiblethat may be in two weeks orfourcertainly not longer than a month away, it wasestimated.

The Texas & Pacic Railway will be asked to buildswitches into the construction area; the Texas Power& Light to build additional lines and make arrange-

ments for additional services; the City Water Depart-ment has one of the biggest jobs of bringing waterlines to the camp to make 1,600,000 of water daily.

Plans for the camp are said to be already available,and will be similar to the Brownwood structure, onlycertain facilities will not be needed here, such as thehospital area.

While in Fort Sam Houston Water CommissionerOwen Boarman went over the various ramicationsof the water system with the Government waterengineers, the pressure, the abundance of water, pal-

atability, resources and plans to bring the water fromthe lake to the camp site. Likewise Allen Guinn wentinto the electric service available, and Mayor John C.Miller the plans for sanitary measures, trafc, police,permits, labor, etc.

Incidentally, local people who would like a jobat the camp should see Mr. Reinhart at the TexasEmployment Bureau, on Northeast First Avenue, andregister with him, giving qualications and experi-ence. It is in this manner that local people are tryingto insure jobs rst for local people able and qualied

to work on the camp construction. The contractorswill be asked to use local labor rst, and Mr. Reinhartwill submit all qualied as fast as the contractor asksfor them. While this will not assure a position, it isthe best chance and the one most likely to assure one.

President Allen Guinn stated that he did not knowjust how much the construction would cost here,some gure between $3,000,000 and $7,000,000. Eventhe Quartermaster Department did not know. Howlong the camp will be operated here is also unknown,

surely for ve years, and maybe it will be permanent.Some Army Ofcers do not believe there will ever bea time when the camp will not be in Mineral Wells,once started. ...

Publishers note: So much for the ofcers crystal ball.Camp Wolters is long gone, as is its latter incarnationFort Wolters. But turning dirt on the project certainlystoked the res of the City Built on Waters economicengines back in 1940.

This series of pieces from the past is meant toremind us of this areas unique history. The material

comes from old issues maintained at the Index ofce

and is presented pretty much as it appeared in print.

These papers are quite yellowed and brittle, deterio-

rating from age. By publishing these pieces perhaps

we can keep them in play in the digital world for

years to come. For clarity, some punctuation issues

have been addressed. Hopefully you will enjoy these

tiny windows to the past. Feedback is appreciated

and will be shared. E-mail publisher@mineralwellsin-

dex.com or send your letter to Mineral Wells Index,

P.O. Box 370, Mineral Wells, Texas 76068, attention

publisher. You may also drop it by our ofce at 300

S.E. 1st. St. in Mineral Wells. Thanks for reading!


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